Adapted from Rick Berry Staff Development for Educators Differentiated Instruction for Earth and Space Science Teachers Presented by: Steven Wilkie, Barbara Rebeor, and Jheri Hurst

Session Objective: By the end of this session, you will walk away with finished products and the knowledge required to immediately apply differentiated instructional techniques in your classroom.

What is Differentiated Instruction? Same essential learning outcomes:  Learning goals need to be set first.  Learning outcomes should not be adjusted- mastery for all. Responsive Teaching based on:  Readiness  Interests  Learning profile

What is Differentiated Instruction? Provides multiple approaches to content, process, product and assessments. By adjusting all 4 teaching elements, teachers design different approaches to what students learn, how, they learn, and how they demonstrate what they have learned.

What D.I. is Not: Grouping students by their scholastic ability Individualized Instruction (different lesson plans for every student) Modifying the amount of work students do (reward for finishing early—do more!) Just about student choice. Hard questions for some—easy questions for others

Why Differentiate? “One size fits all instruction” does not address the needs of many students. Kids come in different shapes and sizes and have a variety of interests, learning profiles, and readiness levels The primary goal of quality education and quality curriculum design is to develop and deepen student understanding. “When a teacher tries to teach something to the entire class at the same time, chances are, one third of the kids already know it, one third will get it, and the remaining third won’t. So two thirds of the children are wasting their time.” Lillian Katz

Our job is to teach the students we have… Not only the ones we would like to have… Not the ones we used to have… Those we have right now… ALL OF THEM Why Differentiate?

The Vocabulary of D.I. Learner profiles Jigsaw Anchor activities Literature circles Tiered lessons Learning centers PBL Multiple Intelligences Learning contracts Wait time Cubing Bloom’s Taxonomy Flexible grouping Scaffolding Assessment For learning Exit cards Compacting

Start at the Beginning: Know Your Students Academic history Multiple Intelligences/Learning Styles Student interests Index Cards Gender differences

“We must stop asking how smart people are and start asking how people are smart” Howard Gardner next

Learning Style e.g. Visual Interests/other info Multiple Intelligence e.g. linguistic, musical Interaction Inventory e.g. Tigger e.g. Twin, plays hockey Readiness and Testing back Back of Index Card- Used for Grouping Front of index card can suit your own needs (student name, birth date, parent contact, special accommodations, etc.)

Tiered Lessons What is tiering?  If the goal is mastery for all students, depending on the students initial comprehension you may have to adjust your delivery method to suit their level of understanding?  If the teaching method focuses solely on the students with low comprehension they will begin to understand the concept, mean while the students at higher levels are bored, unmotivated and unengaged.  If the teaching method focuses solely on the students with high comprehension, the students at that level will be engaged and will apply the concepts, mean while the students at lower levels are lost, confused, bored, unmotivated and unengaged. The goal of tiering is to engage all students and obtain mastery for all.

Tiered Lesson Research Project Tier 1 Provide students with all necessary articles, thesis/proposition bibliographical info, template, form of assessment Tier 2 Provide students with a number of usable articles in which to choose From, thesis/proposition, form of assessment Tier 3 Provide students with the Proposition/thesis, potential Sources for research

Tiered Lesson Lab Tier 1 Provide Students with question, Materials, procedure, data analysis Procedure. Students will analyze Class data together to Draw conclusions Tier 2 Provide Students with Question, materials, Procedure. Students will complete The procedure, collect The data, analyze it And draw conclusions Tier 3 Students will be given the overall Problem and will be expected To design a lab, collect data, Analyze the data and draw conclusions

Tiered Lessons Lesson can also be tiered based on the overall product the students produce and their learning style. Groups based on Visual learners, audio learners, and kinesthetic learners. Tier I: visual– create a PowerPoint Tier II: Audio- prepare an oral presentation Tier III: Kinesthetic - Create a drama presentation that depicts the similarities and differences